Alcon Entertainment is in talks with the French-Canadian to direct sci-fi sequel Blade Runner and confirmed Harrison Ford will reprise his iconic role as Rick Deckard.

Alcon and Villeneuve collaborated on the critically acclaimed 2013 thriller Prisoners.

Filming on Blade Runner is set for summer 2016. The action will take place several decades after the end of the 1982 original.

Ridley Scott, who directed the original, is on board as executive producer. Hampton Fancher, co-writer of the original, co-wrote the new screenplay with Michael Green based an idea by Fancher and Scott. 

Alcon Entertainment acquired film, television and ancillary franchise rights to Blade Runner in 2011 from producer Bud Yorkin to produce prequels and sequels to the sci-fi.

Yorkin will serve as a producer alongside Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson. Thunderbird Films co-CEOs Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble will serve as executive producers.

“We are honoured that Harrison is joining us on this journey with Denis Villeneuve, who is a singular talent, as we experienced personally on Prisoners,” said Kosove and Johnson.

“Hampton and Michael, with Ridley Scott, have crafted a uniquely potent and faithful sequel to one of the most universally celebrated films of all time and we couldn’t be more thrilled with this amazing, creative team.”

Villeneuve most recently directed the crime thriller Sicario staring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benecio Del Toro for Black Label Media and Lionsgate.

His credits include Incendies, Enemy and Polytechnique.